March 14, 2007

Review-a-palooza Part 3: Don't walk down 'October Road'

Finally, the less said about “October Road” (9 p.m. Thursday, WLS-Ch. 7) the better. OK, if you must know, it’s about a writer who returns to his home town after a 10-year absence, and after the publication of a novel that angered many of his former friends, thanks to the thinly veiled and hurtful portraits of them in the book.

This wretched show not only features a lead character who is an unredeemable nitwit but dialogue that manages to be leaden, preposterous and pretentious all at once.

“Whatever you two have going on with each other, why don’t I extract myself and go order us some Dagwoods,” one character says during an awkward encounter between Our Hero and his ex-girlfriend at a sandwich shop.

Giving that line to any character is a bad idea. Giving it to a 10-year old character is nearly tantamount to child abuse.

All you need to know about “October Road” that the drama, about three-quarters of the way into the pilot, after much painful exposition and eye-roll-inducing character development, features a montage of scenes from Our Hero’s past intercut with scenes of wholesome present-day life in good old Knights Ridge, his hometown. The closing image is – wait for it – a boy delivering newspapers on his bike.

“October Road,” you did not earn a montage. Certainly not that kind of sappy, icky, bleccch montage. And having characters ironically comment on the show’s more corny moments doesn’t forgive their utter awfulness.

Comments

Save Lynn (Bateman was a terrible casting error), I miss Elmo's whacky inhabitants,and also Jane though she's in NYC.
Speaking of Jane leads me to her dating mad bomber Kelly....errr Plow Guy, Sam.
Is it me or he always looks bigger on BSG? Odd.

Anyhoo, I skim online a lot and I have yet to find a positive review of "October Road". I can't say the premise is enticing to begin with so I'll skip that one.

"

MAUREEN RYAN
The Watcher
A Chicago Tribune Web log

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Originally posted: March 14, 2007
Review-a-palooza Part 3: Don't walk down 'October Road'

Finally, the less said about “October Road” (9 p.m. Thursday, WLS-Ch. 7) the better. OK, if you must know, it’s about a writer who returns to his home town after a 10-year absence, and after the publication of a novel that angered many of his former friends, thanks to the thinly veiled and hurtful portraits of them in the book.

This wretched show not only features a lead character who is an unredeemable nitwit but dialogue that manages to be leaden, preposterous and pretentious all at once.

“Whatever you two have going on with each other, why don’t I extract myself and go order us some Dagwoods,” one character says during an awkward encounter between Our Hero and his ex-girlfriend at a sandwich shop.

Giving that line to any character is a bad idea. Giving it to a 10-year old character is nearly tantamount to child abuse.

All you need to know about “October Road” that the drama, about three-quarters of the way into the pilot, after much painful exposition and eye-roll-inducing character development, features a montage of scenes from Our Hero’s past intercut with scenes of wholesome present-day life in good old Knights Ridge, his hometown. The closing image is – wait for it – a boy delivering newspapers on his bike.

“October Road,” you did not earn a montage."

Hee!!
Bad boy, no cookie for you! *hand slap*

PS: unrelated but The Black Donnellys? Boy were you right. I couldn't even bother to finish the second episode.

I was surprised "Men in Trees" got as far as it dad after watching the first episode and none after that. I didn't think that it deserved to be on after Grey's because it just wasn't that good. If anything, it netted Anne Heche a new man while she was married to another.

beeble, I did not like MiT's pilot either. Can't say I was swooned by the first four episodes actually (though I did like the secondary characters pretty quickly) but the fifth episode made me fall for the show.
Save the appearance of a boring and badly acted character, the show has been a sweet treat every week.

It's not earth shattering or anything but it generally provides a "feel good" type of entertainment imo.

As for Heche...I know who she is, who she did and what because I read online and all but she, like deGeneres (or Oprah), are absolute nobodies here so even knowing her bagage, I couldn't care less.

The show is fluff and a breath of fresh air amidst procedural, medical and "reality" shows *IMHO*.

I love Men in Trees! Okay, so it's mindless fluff, but it's entertaining and different mindless fluff. What, like we need another so-called "reality" show or game show? I too couldn't care less about Anne Heche's past - know about it, but it doesn't factor in, as far as I'm concerned. Getting rid of Justine Bateman would be a big plus though. Yech.

WOW! I guess we were watching two very different shows last night! I loved it!

The reason he went back home was because he was having writer's block and had been riddled with the guilt of how his book hurt his friends. He felt he had fences to mend and that might be what was at the heart of his writing difficulties.

Once he got back there, he realized that all the things he had left behind were some of the greatest things he ever had, even with all their quirks.

Having moved away from my hometown for almost 10 years, I went through a very similar experience. You change, your friends change but that deep bond that you shared during those formative years is the root of who you are and inexplicably is what keeps you all linked together.

How could you have missed the fact that the 10 year-old's line in the subshop is a hint at who is father is? He obviously enjoys literture, did you miss the "George and Lenny" reference later on?

And carrying his lunch in his paper route bag? You obviously don't spent too much time around 10 year olds. Your Chicago mentality may be what is keeping you from understanding the small town mindset that is being portrayed. Knights Ridge isn't Naperville - but you probably consider the Far Western suburbs another realm anyway. There is no way you would "get" October Road ....

I agree with you about the music in October Road. I was even trying to reconcile that music with the Kurt Cobain poster on the wall and decide if the past scenes were actually in 1987 and the present scenes in 1997, but I suppose the characters (as teens) could have been both into Nirvana and Boston in 1997 (but it's sort of feels like the show is trying too hard there).

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